Tag Archives: Metalcore

Laying down a confrontational and caustic foundation of apocalyptic heaviness, Architect’s abrasive metallic hardcore tackles weighty sociopolitical issues while crashing through aural receptacles with the grace of a piledriver on their nihilistic nine-track affair GHOST OF THE SALT WATER MACHINE. Channeling the red-faced, well-informed aggression of Deadguy, Coalesce, and Ringworm, this sextet boasts the scathing guitar tones and seismic rhythmic rumblings (“Uninventing the Wheel”) that come sans fancy haircuts and energy drink endorsements, opting to keep an eye on society’s ills rather than on the TMZ ticker (“The Dog and Pony Show”). And when this act’s heartfelt screamy gang shouts (“I Am Become Death”) and sludgy atmospherics kick in (“Camelot in Smithereens”), be prepared to spiral through the depths of urban decay and modern era blight while this seething troupe paves the way. www.blackmarketactivities.com -Mike SOS

Canadian squad Buried Inside return after a four-year layover with SPOILS OF FAILURE, a viscous and vitriolic affair curiously titled only in roman numerals. Produced by underground guru Kurt Ballou, this eight-track offering yields an elaborate mix of sludgy guitars, gut-wrenching vocals, and mammoth percussion, at times breaking through with the majestic fury of Isis on steroids (“III”). Intertwining post-hardcore venom with a doom metal oppressiveness (“V”), these menacing merchants of despair demonstrate a searing array of progressively structured blackhearted hardcore mired in cascading waves of hypnotic hopelessness and unrelenting sheer ferocity, painstakingly laying down groundwork to the soundtrack for those at the end of their rope. www.relapse.com-Mike SOS

Metalcore staple act Hatebreed, unleashes 18 influential metal covers on their latest studio endeavor For The Lions. Honoring bands from the early thrash era (“Ghosts of War” Slayer, “Escape” Metallica), to the roots of hardcore punk (“Hatebreeders” Misfits, “Shut Me Out” Sick of it All), to sludge (“All I Had I Gave” Crowbar), Hatebreed diligently delivers all classic tracks with their signature blistering ferocity. This album was intended for release in 2008, but the band wanted to record additional tracks, which are among the best on the record (“Ghosts of War,” “Shut Me Out”). Vocalist Jamey Jasta offers his best Max Cavalera impression on “Refuse/Resist” while the rhythm section impressively recreates Sepultura’s tribal vibe. Granted some extra fat (“Boxed In,” “Sick of Talk”) could have been cut away for optimum album flow, For The Lions contains many solid covers. If the band clipped the track list down to the 12-14 most bludgeoning tunes, this would be a 5-star tribute record -Meds

Oklahoma City, OK act Bleed the Sky implement the emotions of enduring the endless rigors of being in a fledgling metal band just scraping by into an explosive 12-track album MURDER THE DANCE. Crossing metalcore anthem choruses with jagged shards of pummeling metal (“Sullivan,” “Slavior”), this act falls somewhere between Strapping Young Lad, VOD, Deftones and Kataklysm when applying a new school neck-breaking approach to savagery, propelling tracks like the spiraling “Morose,” the lung-tearing “Kettle Black” or the screeching title track to the forefront of ferocity. With a slew of suffocated rhythms and woozy dissonance floating in and out of chaotic tracks like “The Sleeping Beauty,” this band respectively place a sturdy smattering of modern metal pieces together to formulate a style which echoes their plight and struggles of climbing the ranks. www.nuclearblastusa.com-Mike SOS

Swedish metalcore sextet Sonic Syndicate portray the perfect product of their environment, as LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS carefully follows templates from the genre’s commercial successes to comprise this band’s by the book sound. Tracks like “Contradiction” easily fits somewhere on the Bullet for My Valentine radar, while the pseudo-ballad “My Escape” and “Damage Control” takes the keyboards out for a spin for a trip reminiscent of Scar Symmetry or Bleeding Through. Sonic Syndicate’s solid yet completely unoriginal metalcore grows weary after a few spins, but won’t tire those entrenched in flavor of the week mallcore. www.nuclearblastusa.com-Mike SOS

South Carolina metalcore crew The Classic Struggle merge Euro thrash, hardcore, and metal for a blistering 10-track offering in the form of BRING BACK THE GLORY. While this unit’s infernal heft is sure to leave quite the impression, tactics like implementing the sludgy breakdown before the beatdown on “Beyond the Walls” and the dramatic tempo drop-off from “Wish Me Hell” keep this band in the thick of things, even though tracks such as “You’ve Got to Die of Something” redundantly tread traditional metalcore waters. Solid yet unspectacular, The Classic Struggle provides the skull-bashing good time which stays the course with a sledgehammered delivery that is bound to appease throngs of shirtless pit-goers everywhere. www.ironcladrecordings.com-Mike SOS

36 Crazyfists has been a mainstay in the metalcore genre for over a decade with good reason, as this Alaskan outfit manages to perpetually release quality music that illuminates both their heavy and harmonic side. The latest 11-track endeavor THE TIDE AND ITS TAKERS is no exception, continuing this venerable squad’s soaring melodic metal style with solid results. Armed with a versatile vocalist in Brock Lindow who can go from clean singing to jugular-grabbing screaming at the drop of a dime and led by the grossly underrated guitar assault of Steve Holt, songs like the ferocious opener “The All Night Lights” and the jagged “Clear The Coast” (with guest vocals by Twelve Tribes’ Adam Jackson) set moshpits ablaze with bludgeoning force while the airtight low end bassline locking in with the flurry of fearless drums and perfectly aligned guitar fills and rhythms on “Northern November” display the group’s superb chops and the haunting “The Back Harlow Road” and “When Distance is the Closest Reminder” render the wicked infectious hooks and crushing groove melding this unit specializes in. Transcending metalcore limitations with clever compositions and expert musicianship (especially guitar-wise), 36 Crazyfists come through yet again with a powerful combination of grace and savagery fully intact and polished to a shine. www.ferretstyle.com -Mike SOS

Deadlock return with another dose of bludgeoning metalcore with dual male/female vocal on MANIFESTO, this German outfit’s latest offering. The 11-track affair maintains the crush employed by many of the new wave of European metal acts, yet this sextet continuously throws musical curveballs which definitely makes their music stand out, but not always for the right reasons. The thumping techno opener “The Moribund Choir vs. The Trumpets of Armageddon” and the over the top street hip-hop performance that winds down “Deathrace” are prime examples of some creative moments that most metal fans will write off as miscues, despite their dead-on accuracy and attention to detail. However, if you can deal with this eclectic band’s unorthodox leanings, jittery creative flashes, and solid yet tired beauty and the beast call and response vocals, the sonic battering applied to cuts like the Children of Bodom-esque “Fire At Will” and “Seal Slayer” stand up alongside any of the current crop’s most notable, making MANIFESTO an album that dares to take chances yet holds its ground to keep it heavy. www.lifeforcerecords.com -Mike SOS

Pennsylvania metalcore troupe This or The Apocalypse transcend the genre’s mundane monotonies with an abundance of nimble guitarwork and clever juxtapositions of brutality and melody on their 10-track debut MONUMENTS. This unit’s lineage is easily traced to bands such as Misery Signals and fellow statesmen This Day Forward thanks to a common bond forged from similar composition devices and non-linear structural nuances, yet This or the Apocalypse manage to bring fresh perspectives to otherwise burly breakdowns (“Elegiac,” “This is Debt”), slam with sinewy riffs and tech-like rhythmic patterns (“Two Wars”) and even go so far as to include a calm and atmospheric feedback-laden jam in for added texture (“Memento Mori”). Some may complain that this squad follow the blueprint of August Burns Red a bit too closely, but if it’s a kick in the ass from a stale style that you’re looking for that takes enough chances and left turns without falling too far off the path, then this quintet is worth a spin. www.lifeforcerecords.com -Mike SOS

Louisiana metalcore squad The Fight Between Frames comes out with fist flailing on their six-song EP BIRTH OF THE BULL AND THE LABYRINTH. Despite their geographic location and what their publicity propaganda suggests, the southern rock heard from cuts like “Red Rubber Jungle” and “Gambling Away Your Livelihood” shares a lot in common with Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. Add in heavy-handed breakdowns and spastic time changes just like the 150 other metalcore bands currently working the circuit, and you’ve got yet another sound-alike metalcore album. While this band does its part to combine Every Time I Die, Converge, and Bury Your Dead into a cohesive union, they still have a long way to go before they can stand out in such an oversaturated scene. www.tragicherorecords.com -Mike SOS